History

Details

Parish church. C14 tower and transepts. Remainder of church
rebuilt 1842 by Thomas Foster of Bristol; chancel altered 1869-71
by William Burges. Porch room by Peter Falconer added in 1973.
Ashlar and random rubble limestone; stone and Welsh slate roofs.
Nave with aisles, north and south transepts, central tower and
chancel. West entrance lobby addition and parish room. C14 tower
and transepts, tower having tall deeply splayed 2-light pointed
belfry openings with Decorated tracery; broach spire with narrow
lucarnes to cardinal faces; upper part removed 1563 and replaced
by crenellated coronet with crocketed pinnacles. Octagonal north
east stair turret entered by pointed arched doorway in angle
between chancel and north transept. Very fine south transept has
large 5-light rose window, diagonal corner buttresses and row of
closely-spaced side wall buttresses with 2-light pointed windows
between. Plainer north transept with 3-light north and similar
east window with reticulated tracery, north having circular Cl9
restored window above with quatrefoil tracery. Moulded pointed
arched doorway on east side with hoodmould. C19 buttressed
chancel has large 5-light geometrical traceried east window with
double tracery in Burges's typical bold style; empty hooded image
niche above. Perpendicular Gothic nave by Foster appears bulky
against medieval crossing. Five Perpendicular aisle windows and
one bay at west end with smaller window; 2-light clerestory
windows with 4-centred pointed heads separated by gabled
buttresses. Crenellated parapets with tall crocketed pinnacles at
west end above angle buttresses. Four-light Perpendicular west
window. Flat-roofed lobby obscures west doorway, links with
hexagonal church room having sprocketed pyramidal roof with ball
finial and stone cross windows.
Interior: broad nave with panelled roof having gilt bosses and
painted decoration to ribbing. Four-bay arcades with octagonal
columns. C14 crossing arches die into responds of piers.
Tierceron vaulting beneath tower taken off slender corner shafts
with foliage capitals. Some medieval painting survives on nave
arch. Timber boarded barrel vault to chancel with 1931 painted
decoration by F.C. Eden. Highly polished encaustic tile to stepped
chancel floor. Most remarkable part of interior is south transept,
dominated by rose window and with pitched stone slab roof supported
on stone cross-arches with scissor bracing, these set closely
together relating to the external buttressing. Two ogee-arched
Decorated mortuary tomb recesses below south transept window have
rich crocket decoration and pinnacles, also retaining effigy of
Knight in contemporary armour and his Lady, each on chest with
quatrefoil front panelling. Similar tomb recess in north transept
now obscured by organ. Many other fine memorials including brasses
at west end of nave. Good segmental pedimented memorial in south
transept to IEREMIE BVCKE, a Parliamentary officer, appears
undated; oval brass plate below to Jacobus Bradley, S.T.P., died
1762 aged 70 has latin inscription - this formerly being attached
to Bradley's monument in the churchyard (q.v.). Several good
monuments reset high in nave between clerestory windows. All are
fine, many of cadaver type, mostly to Sheppard family of Gatcombe
Park. Especially good is one on south side by Ricketts of
Gloucester to SAMUEL SHEPPARD, died 1770. Boldest on north side is
pedimented plaque to JOSEPH ILES, died 1749, by Robert Chambers.
Remainder of fittings mostly date from re-seating of church in
1875. Timber rood screen by F.C. Eden of 1920 was intended to be
painted. Very complete stained glass: east window and south rose
window by Hardman. West window and most aisles windows are by
Herbert Bryans, a pupil of Kempe, installed 1899-1922. One window
in north aisle by Edward Payne. Church at Minchinhampton
originally given by William the Conqueror to the Abbaye aux Dames,
Caen, passing to the nuns of Syon Abbey in 1415. A major
rebuilding occurred in C12 but no trace of this survives.
(J. Mordant Crook, William Burges and the High Victorian Dream,
1981; N.M. Herbert, 'Minchinhampton' in V.C.H. Glos. xi 1976, pp
184-207; A.T. Playne, Minchinhampton and Avening, 1915; and D.
Verey, Cotswold Churches, 1976 and Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds,
1979)

Listing NGR: SO8721800815

Selected Sources

Books and journalsMordaunt Crook, J , William Burges and the High Victorian Dream, (1981)Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Gloucester, (1976), 184-207Playne, A T, Minchinhampton and Avening, (1915)Verey, D , The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds, (1970)Verey, D, Cotswold Churches, (1976)

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